Landscapes of Labor in the 17th Century Potomac Valley

Summary

Laboring people, especially the enslaved, are often considered to be archaeologically invisible during the first century of settlement in the colonial Chesapeake. In this paper I focus on key aspects of landscapes—fields, forests, and rivers—to consider how a landscape approach can illuminate the daily practice of enslaved Africans and indentured servants in the 17th century. While the focus on productive labor was tobacco cultivation that underpinned the economy, alternate economies dependent on animal products, the transportation of goods, and the cultivation of grains impacted the ways in which people negotiated the landscape of the Potomac Valley and the ways in which laboring people interacted with it, with each other, with Indians and with English landowners.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2018   •
• Landscapes of Chesapeake Slavery

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Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 399